United States, World, National & International Security, Political Science 

In A Cross of Iron, one of the country's most distinguished diplomatic historians provides the fullest account yet of the national security state that emerged in the first decade of the Cold War. Michael J. Hogan traces the process of state-making as it unfolded in struggles to unify the armed forces, harness science to military purposes, mobilize military manpower, control the defense budget, and distribute the cost of defense across the economy. At stake, Hogan argues, was a fundamental contest over the nation's political identity and postwar purpose. President Harry S. Truman and his successor were in the middle of this contest. According to Hogan, they tried to reconcile an older set of values with the new ideology of national security and the country's democratic traditions with its global obligations. Their efforts determined the size and shape of the national security state that finally emerged.  

A Cross of Iron provides the fullest account yet of the national security state that emerged in the first decade of the Cold War. Michael J. Hogan traces the process of state-making through struggles to unify the armed forces, harness science to military purposes, mobilize military manpower, control the defense budget, and distribute the cost of defense across the economy. President Harry S. Truman and his successor were in the middle of a fundamental contest over the nation's political identity and postwar purpose, and their efforts determined the size and shape of the national security state that finally emerged. - from Amzon 

Contents


1. The National Security discourse: ideology, political culture,
and state making ………………………………………………………...............................P. 1

2. Magna Charta: the National Security Act and the specter
of the garrison state ……………………………………………………..............................P. 23

3. The high price of peace: guns and butter politics in
the early Cold War...............................................................................P. 69

4. The time tax: American political culture and the UMT debate……….......P. 119

5. 'Chaos and conflict and carnage confounded': budget battles
and defense reorganization……………………………………….................................P. 159

6. Preparing for permanent war: economy, science, and secrecy
in the National Security state……………………………………..................................P. 209

7. Turning point: NSC-68, the Korean War, and the
national security response………………………………………....................................P. 265

8. Semiwar: the Korean War and rearmament………………………..................P. 315

9. The Iron Cross: solvency, security, and the Eisenhower transition…......P. 366


10. Other voices: the public sphere and the National Security mentality…....P. 419